Chapter 13 - Lily Became Afraid of Locked Doors
Our baby recovered from the incident without physical harm.
Lily carried more of it.
For weeks, she checked doors.
Bedroom door.
Bathroom door.
Pantry.
If one clicked shut, she asked:
“Can I open it?”
She also followed her brother constantly.
If he cried from another room, Lily ran.
Once I found her sitting beside his crib at two in the morning.
“What are you doing?”
“Watching him.”
“You need sleep.”
She shook her head.
“What if somebody locks him somewhere?”
That sentence broke something in me.
We began family therapy.
Not to make Lily forget.
To teach her she was not responsible for keeping her brother safe every second.
That was my job.
Adults’ job.
Slowly, she stopped checking every latch.
Then one afternoon she played hide-and-seek again for the first time.
She hid inside a closet.
Left the door open two inches.
I pretended not to see her feet.
She laughed so loudly that pretending became impossible.
It was a tiny moment.
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It mattered enormously.
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